Valek's Apprentice
by youhavepoisonedme
Summary: When confronted by Irys in the forest, Yelena decides that there is nothing left for her in Ixia. She agrees to Irys' terms, and allows herself to be smuggled to Sitia. Valek will go to incredible lengths to get her back, with the help of a new friend.
1. Chapter 1

**First Poison Study fic, hooray! I've wanted to put these thoughts onto paper for a little while, but they didn't really fit together, but I've fixed them up and here they are! Please review!**

Valek rubbed his face with both hands in an attempt to clear his thoughts. He couldn't think, his mind was blurred.

It didn't make sense. Ever since Yelena arrived, nothing had made sense. Valek tapped his desk with the end of his quill, more had happened that night in the forest than Yelena let on.

He strongly doubted a master magician would run from him, leaving Yelena. Valek knew that his reputation had spread to the furthest corners of the districts, but powerful magicians were cocky.

Why hadn't the magician murdered Yelena? No one would have known what happened, a nice clean murder. Magic left no trace, and even if the Magician was unable to dispatch of Yelena, why not just take her with them? A hostage might have come in handy.

Although after a second of thought, he understood why the magician hadn't carried out that particular motion. Nobody would exchange anything for a mere food taster.

_Except Me._

Valek gritted his teeth in annoyance and banished all personal thoughts from his mind. He had to concentrate.

If the magician wanted Yelena dead, then Yelena wouldn't have had a chance. Unless she had managed to fight the Sitian off. An impossible prospect, Valek disregarded it offhand.

Although, he had underestimated Yelena before. Valek recovered the thought and slotted it at the back of his mind, then removed it again. Judging by what he managed to decipher, the magician he was dealing with powerful, and not just powerful, but intelligent.

He blew a thin stream of air through his teeth, and stared at a file in front of him. Though his eyes were unobservant of the writing, he needed something, anything, to inspire him.

The file didn't seem willing to share any incredible ideas.

In one smooth movement, Valek stood up, grabbed two of the small rocks always kept on his desk, and began to pace. Throwing the rocks from hand to hand, the smooth contours and natural solidarity calmed him. Why was the magician after Yelena in the first place? It didn't add up. Unless Brazell had hired him.

Magicians for hire. That was a new one. He smirked at his own weak joke.

He considered a new theory. Perhaps the magician was hiding in the castle, but that wouldn't explain-

"I can't think." Valek growled. He spun round and hurled one rock at the wall, it struck with a bang. Unknowingly scaring away a young boy trying to muster up the courage to knock on his door.

One word wouldn't be dislodged from Valek's mind. It refused to be dismissed. It clouded every other thought.

_Magician._

Valek's legs jarred, he abruptly stopped his repetitive walk as realisation hit him. He grabbed the side of his desk for support. His rock fell to the floor, a vibration washed through the floorboards. Valek didn't even notice. It didn't even remotely compare to the shivers running through his veins.

The magician wasn't here to kill Yelena, as almost everyone else was, No. A hoarse, furious laugh escaped Valek's throat. He gripped the desk corner tighter as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.

Yelena was a magician. She was being taken to Sitia. Supposedly under Valek's radar. He scowled. He'd see about that. He threw open his office door, and nearly bowled over a little boy. He cowered away when he saw Valek's face.

"What are you doing here?" Valek said, his words tipped with ice cold daggers. The boy looked up at him, his eyes were wide and his chest rose and fell rapidly, the young boy had been running, and running fast. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a shout from down the corridor. Before Valek or the boy could react, a group of around 13 soldiers ran around the corner. They too, were panting heavily.

The boy gave a yelp, sprinted between Valek's legs and hid behind him. Valek automatically scanned the men, he didn't recognise their uniforms. The Front soldier observed the boy, and then his eyes travelled up Valek's torso until they reached his face. The soldier smiled predatorily.

"Please sir, you have to help me... oh god-" The child buried his face in the fabric of Valek's trouser leg.

"We've finally got the little rat!" The leading soldier shouted, and made a grab at the petrified child. Valek blocked the soldier's hand. The man looked at Valek as if he had only just noted his existence. Valek gave him a cold look.

"Hand him over." The man glared at the man blocking the path between him and his prey. Though Valek saw a glint of uncertainty in the soldier's eyes, the man wasn't sure of Valek's motives in protecting the child, or how far he was willing to go.

"What's the boys' crime?" Valek asked, reaching behind him to lay a protective hand on the child's back.

"That devil of a child has been accused of stealing and using magic." The soldier glared at the child, the boy watched him, his muscles tense, ready to run.

"Thirteen of you onto one boy? This is evidently too much for you to handle." A smile tugged at Valek's lips. He waved his arm, His smirk barely supressed. "Get along with you."

One of the soldier's standing in the small crowd snarled and pushed to the front. "Who the hell do you think you are?" He yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth.

The boys grip tightened. Valek gave the man a bored look.

The leader exhaled in a rush of Smokey air, pushing the other soldier out of his way. "Stand aside and my men will not harm you."

Valek smiled humourlessly.

"You obviously didn't hear what I said." The man stepped forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword. His face held a horrible scowl. "This is none of your business, surrender the boy before you get hurt."

Valek narrowed his eyes. "You _obviously _don't know who I am. I won't tell you again_. Get out of here._"

The man pulled his sword from his belt. "You stand with the criminal?"

Valek didn't say anything. The boy looked at him with pleading eyes. Valek ignored him.

"Very well." The soldier shrugged. "You will die first." He pointed a gloved finger at Valek's chest.

"Kill him."

Two soldiers advanced on Valek. Without taking his eyes off his challengers, Valek pried the boy off his leg and pushed the child behind him. Valek watched the men, one held a knife and the other a sword. They circled him. Valek rolled his eyes.

Suddenly one lunged at Valek, his knife held out in front of him.

Valek whirled round, grabbed the soldier's wrist and twisted it around until the man flipped, knocking his companion over, unbalanced, the soldier slashed wildly. Valek caught the sword and neatly slit his first opponent's throat.

He then ducked to avoid a lash from the other man's knife. Valek whirled around, stabbing the soldier straight through the chest. Valek kicked the dying man and his body slipped off Valek's sword. More men ran forward to take their friends places, and they kept coming. One by one, Valek dispatched them.

Valek was engaged in a sword fight with the remaining soldiers, when a terrified scream echoed throughout the corridor. Valek weaved out of the soldiers range and turned his attention to the direction of the scream.

One soldier that Valek hadn't noticed was proceeding to injure the boy with his knife so he would be easier to grab. The boy was much younger and faster, but even then he dodged the knife narrowly. The soldier swiped and stabbed, but the boy was faster. Valek turned back to quickly get rid of the last of the soldiers, he was fighting the last one when he again glanced over his shoulder to check the boy. The soldier nearly had the boy, a minute at most and he would be dead.

Valek took a step towards the offending soldier, reaching into his secret pocket for a Knife. Then, without warning, a sword whipped through the air where he had just been standing, slashing his arm. Valek jumped back as his attacker swiped again. Dammit. Concentrate. Valek told himself as he eluded more attempts at his throat. It wasn't long before Valek disarmed the man and hit him on the temple with his sword hilt. Valek turned back to the boy.

The child ducked and ran to the left, his eyes on his pursuer. He hadn't noticed the second man, Valek opened his mouth to warn him, but his warning never passed his lips, the man swiped at the boy and the knife hit him in the chest. With a cry, the boy fell to the ground, his arms wrapped around his bleeding torso.

With a shout of rage Valek hurled a knife at the soldier, he knelt over, dead. He then leapt on the other one, plunging another dart into his neck. He fell at Valek's feet.

Valek kicked him out of the way and scooped the boy into his arms. He then turned and ran towards the medic. He burst through the infirmary's doors and looked around for the medic. She came bustling out of her office.

"What's happened now Valek? What have you done to your arm this time? I'll get you a bandage." Her hawklike gaze shifted to the limp child in Valek's arms. "And who's this boy; he'd better not be carrying disease-"

Valek pulled his hand away from the boy's chest, it was sticky with blood. The Medic gasped when she saw the puncture mark.

"Alright give him here. Hurry up!" The medic took the boy into her arms and started yelling at her staff. They scurried off in various directions to get stiches, antiseptic, and sleeping draught. All thoughts of Valek's arm forgotten.

The boy smiled weakly at Valek before he was whisked away by the medic. Valek watched as he disappeared from sight.

Valek strode through the castle, towards Ambrose's office. When he reached it, he didn't bother knocking; he opened the door, swept soundlessly into the room and leant on Ambrose's desk with a scowl on his face.

"Would you like to tell me why there are new soldiers strutting around assuming my duties?" He snapped.

"It's nice to see you too, Valek." The Commander said.

Valek straightened.

"I'm not in the mood, Ambrose. Corrupt is the most favourable thing I could say about them. Tell me who they are."

"Precautionary measures." The Commander answered.

"Precautionary?" Valek said, fury stained his words. "You hire trained killers and call it precautionary?"

"Precautionary has a wider berth now, Valek." The Commander said, the tone of his voice suggested The Commander thought Valek knew what he was referring too.

Valek crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Ambrose glanced at Valek's cut arm, dripping blood on his carpet, but he didn't comment.

"It hasn't escaped my attention that Yelena has vanished, Valek." The Commander tensed. Probably being smuggled through Sitia's borders as we speak."

"The butterfly's dust-"

"Will most likely be counteracted with Sitian medicine." The Commander interrupted.

"I already knew about Yelena, sir. I was on my way to inform you." Valek fumed.

"That doesn't sound like you. You never report anything till after you've done it." The Commander said. "What took you so long?" He added as an afterthought.

"I was detained." Valek didn't appear eager to expand his answer.

"How so?"

Valek shot the commander a venomous look. "By your precautions." Valek spat. The Commander opened his mouth to answer, but Valek had already stalked out of the room, closing the door with a soft click behind him.

**Did you like it? Any ideas for my next chapter? Tell me by reviewing :D Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm **_**so **_**sorry that this took so long to put up, I was going to make it longer, but then I thought that I really should post something. I've just gotten into vidding (fan videos) so that was why this took a little while, my time is now divided. I'll try my best to post the next one faster!**

The first thing Valek when he walked into the infirmary was the noise. He swept his eyes over the large room; almost every single place available was occupied. Shadows of the wounded and sick stained the pure white walls. Valek shuddered as a brief wave of claustrophobia swept over him.

"Valek, _what_ are you doing here?" The medic trotted past him, her arms filled with lotions and various medicines. "Not dragging anymore half dead children into my ward?" She dumped the items on a bench and proceeded to soak a bandage in a light brown liquid.

"Not today." Valek eyed the liquid suspiciously. "I think you can guess why I'm here."

The medic gave Valek an irritated look before sweeping one white, sleeved arm to her left, indicating a bed over the far side of the ward. Valek nodded briskly and navigated his way around the beds. Young men peered at him through wary eyes; women looked away before they could be caught staring. Valek ignored their whispers and wide eyes. He was pondering why there would be so many casualties so suddenly, when a small voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Sir?"

Valek turned his head towards the voice. A Boy was lying in a bed to Valek's right; he looked closer and recognised him to be the child from the day before.

"How are you?" Valek asked softly, as he sat on the side of the thin bed.

"Sore." The boy smiled and reached for his glass of water, it was just out of his reach. Valek handed it to him.

"Thank…you…Sir." He said between deep gulps of liquid.

"What's your name?"

He swallowed noisily before answering. "Keaton."

Valek nodded slowly. "I knew a Keaton once." _Before I assassinated him._ He added silently.

Keaton handed the glass back to Valek. Instead of returning it to the table, Valek tossed it from hand to hand.

"The other day, why did you come to me for help? There are plenty of other people around the castle. And I'm not exactly known for helping little children."

"You seemed nice." Keaton replied.

Valek frowned and thought of the knives hanging from his belt, the pockets of darts hidden all over his body, the way he had greeted the boy and the poison books on his desk.

"I seemed_ nice_?"

Keaton scrunched up his forehead and thought for a moment.

"You didn't try to kill me." He shrugged. "Why?"

"You gave me no reason too."

Keaton looked down and picked at a loose thread in the duvet.

"Do you think I made the wrong decision?"

The boys head shot up. "No."

Valek smiled. "Good. Now get some rest, I don't want to get on the wrong side of the medic. I'm already the cause of half her patients, and she knows it too." Valek stood up to leave.

"Will you visit again?" The boy asked hurriedly.

"If you want me too." Valek replied. Keaton nodded eagerly.

"Then I'll be back tomorrow."

As Valek left the infirmary, his mind returned to Yelena. Valek would obviously be the one to go after her; who knows how long it would take to track her, the magician would have attempted to cover their tracks. He would need a partner, someone with training that could look after themselves.

He jogged down the stairs, until he reached the soldier's quarters. He stopped outside the door when he heard raised voices coming from inside. The first voice was calm and diplomatic.

"Look, I don't know who you are-"

"You don't need too; Commander Ambrose assigned us these rooms. That's all you need to know." A rough, deep voice cut through the diplomatic man's sentence.

"Then where the _hell_ do you propose we sleep?" A smooth voice with a strong undercurrent of sarcasm answered.

"You can sleep in the stables for all we care." Rough voice answered.

"I'd kick you're overly decorated arse right now, but it looks like someone's already done it for me." Whoever this voice belonged to, they was sounding very smug. "Judging by the ugly bruise on your forehead."

When the deep voice spoke again it was a barely controlled snarl. "My men and I were attacked by a gang the yesterday when we were pursuing a criminal. When I find those responsible, I will personally make sure that they pay dearly for their mistake."

"Going after a criminal?" Diplomatic voice made his presence known again. "That's Valek's job."

Sarcastic voice gave a chuckle. "Ohhhh. Valek will _not_ be pleased."

"Valek?" The rough voice said in disbelief. "Valek _Icefaren?_ The _assassin_?"

"Well done on that deduction." The sarcastic voice said. "Quick one, aren't you?

Valek pushed the door and it swung open with a loud creak.

"Looking for me?"

Valek scanned the room and saw two prominent groups, two men that Valek recognised to be Ari and Janco stood at the head of the group of Ixian soldiers. The other group all wore the unfamiliar uniforms that the men had worn when they tried to kidnap Keaton. Valek gave them a specific glare.

The Generals ears turned pink as he watched Valek_. "You."_

Valek turned his palms up, exposing his chest. "Remember me?"

"Of course I do." His lip turned up at the side, a sick forgery of the smile some women found attractive. "You're under arrest."

Valek's face hardened. "When were you planning on telling your men that their colleagues and leader were beaten by a 7 year old boy and myself?"

There was a stunned silence, and then the foreign soldiers started yelling, one pushed an Ixian, the soldier retaliated by punching him in the face. More foreigners ran forward to join the brawl. Valek dodged a punch and poised his body for a dodge to the left. The man took the bait and leaped to the left exposing his stomach and neck. Valek plunged a dagger into his stomach; the man's mouth slackened and he fell to the ground.

Valek dodged around brawling soldiers until he saw a head of loose bouncing golden curls over the crowd. He made his way towards Ari, occasionally knocking out a soldier who was stupid enough to get in his way.

He found Ari in a fast paced sword duel with an unfamiliarly dressed soldier; the man swept his sword through the air Ari dodged to the side. The blade sunk firmly into a wooden training dummy that had been taken in to be repaired. Ari took advantage of the distraction by punching the foreign soldier hard in the face; the man fell to the floor groaning. Ari turned on another soldier fighting one of his friends. Valek sighed in irritation, Ari wasn't going to listen to him when he was fighting.

"_Ari!_" Valek said loudly, his voice raising an octave in panic. "_Dilana's disappeared!_"

Ari's sword wavered in the air for a second in shock, then spun away from his opponent, who continued to swipe at Ari's throat.

"What? Where is she? When was she last seen? It's your job to-" Ari broke off as he took a blow to the head from a soldier, who had used Ari's apparent distraction to his advantage.

Valek fought back a smile; he had the suspicion of Ari's affections for Dilana for a while now. Ari was just too polite to say anything, on the account of Rand.

"Get Janco, both of you meet me outside." Ari's face reddened at the embarrassment of taking a punch in front of his superior.

"Wait a second-" He made a grab at Valek, who swept out of his reach before Ari's fingers had opened out of their clenched fist.

"Outside." Valek repeated, before he melted into the shadows.

**Thank you so much for reading, please review! It keeps me going. ;D**


	3. Chapter 3

_I sincerely apologise for the lateness of this chapter. It was mainly due to school work and other commitments, though I'm more on top of everything now, I hope you enjoy this chapter. _

_Yelena_

"Yelena, take this. It's the closest replacement for your antidote I could think of." Irys said as she handed me a vile filled with a thick pink liquid.

"My antidote was white, not pink." I sounded like a petulant child. All these people wanted to do was help me, and all Valek wanted to do was poison me and hurt me. But for some reason, all I wanted in the world was to go running back into his arms. His hands, the very same ones that had poisoned me, hurt me, wounded me, and yet, they were the safest thing I knew.

"_White?"_ Irys said in confusion. "I've never heard of an antidote being white. It's a general rule that antidotes and either pink or red in colour. That makes them easier to identify."

My mind was too clouded to think properly. "Maybe he just added some fox-root to bleach it so I wouldn't be able to find my antidote if I tried."

Irys frowned. "Fox root? How on earth do you know about that? Only trained botanists and certain clans have that knowledge."

"How far have we travelled?" I asked, avoiding Irys' question, as the answer was unknown to me. Perhaps I had read it in one of Valek's poison books. I scrounged through my backpack and pulled out a bread roll Irys had just bought me. I attacked it, tearing off a piece of lukewarm bread. It was only after I smelt the inviting, comforting smell that I realised I hadn't eaten for hours. The scent reminded me of Rand, and the bread in my mouth suddenly tasted like old glue.

"We've made rather good progress for the 3 hours that we've been travelling." Irys replied, just before her eyes went vacant.

I swallowed the sticky mouthful of bread. "…Irys?" I said, and stood up slowly.

Her eyes seemed to snap back into focus. "And Valek hasn't found us… yet."

"I thought you couldn't track him? Isn't he immune to magic?"

"He is immune, correct. But that also means he creates a dead space in the magic atmosphere, which would take years to sift through. But, a trained magician can pick up this interference, if they know where to look." Irys replied. "And he certainly isn't in our immediate area. I believe he's still at the castle."

This fact didn't give me the reassurance that Irys intended, in fact, it made me uneasy. Even worse, I had no idea why I was so on edge.

"How much further until we arrive in Sitia?" I mumble. I had figured that once we were inside Sitian borders, and the further in we went, the harder it would be for Valek to track and capture us.

"Not too long." Iris replied, as she glanced out the window of the enclosed carriage that we were travelling in.

I sighed and sat down. Iris turned back to me.

"We may as well start your magic training; we have nothing better to do." She motioned for me to stand again. I obeyed her gesture.

"Fire is the most basic skill. It may take a while to learn, but it is a base talent. Once you master it, then other skills that you will learn will make more sense." With a tiny motion of her hand, a candle appeared on the table in front of us. Another subtle flick of her wrist, and it was alight.

"We'll begin with manipulating the flame." She said.

"_Manipulating?"_ I repeated, curiously.

"Yes. Concentrate on the flame, and will it to lean to the left. Hold it there for as long as you can."

I glanced wearily at the flame. _People can actually control fire?_ I thought, confused.

"Yes, they can." Iris said, smiling. "Give it a go, Yelena."

I concentrated on the flame and willed it to lean to the left. Iris gasped and the flame leant to the left, perfectly straight.

"I did it!" I said, triumphantly. I was shocked at how easy it was.

"No, you didn't." Iris sounded bemused, and slightly irritated.

I looked at her questioningly. She returned my gaze with a measured look.

"_I was the one who lit it, Yelena."_

__Yes, I know it's short, but I felt that i needed to post something. The next chapter will be back to Valek's POV, so it will be much longer :) Please review, thankyou :D__


	4. Chapter 4

**Valek**

The next morning was dull and clouded. Drops of dew shimmered on the grass, and the horses were eyeing the passers-by warily from their wooden stalls. Valek stood brushing down his horse, he had a stableboy, but Valek preferred to care for his horse himself. He had been caught before, a former stableboy had once switched his perfectly trained horse to an identical looking temperamental stallion, in an attempt to injure him, and Valek had vowed to never be caught again.

Within a few minutes, Ari and a very petulant looking Janco walked out into the yard, where Valek was waiting. Janco walked to a stall across the hall from Valek and began to saddle up his horse.

"So let me get this straight." Janco said smoothly, as he fed his horse a sugar cube from his pocket. "You want us to help you find your food taster, who you think has been captured by a magician, and may or may not be in Sitia, correct?"

Valek's face was expressionless as he tied up the saddle straps.

"Something like that." He replied. Janco groaned and scrounged in his pocket for another sugar cube.

"If you want our help, it will be given." Ari said with a warning look at his friend.

"Hey, speak for yourself. Maybe I don't want any part in this. I'm not going anywhere." Janco fumed.

"Excellent." Valek said, ignoring Janco. "How long before you'll be ready to leave?"

Ari opened his mouth, but Janco cut in before his friend could comment.

"Why is this food taster so important, anyway? She's made it out of here, good for her. Just train another one."

Valek turned to Janco.

"I believe that she has valuable information that could assist me in some investigations." He said, his usual neutral tone had an undercurrent of defensiveness.

"What investigations?" Janco asked, realising with satisfaction that he had hit a tender subject.

"If you don't know by now, then you don't need to know at all." Valek replied.

"Always so secretive, aren't you? If I didn't know better, I'd say you felt something for-"

"We're ready to leave whenever you are, Valek." Ari interrupted. Janco pursed his lips and turned back to his horse.

"Good." Valek said, mounting his horse, his expression stony. "We'll leave now."


End file.
